Since the inception of mobile phones, the essential function of one has moved from making a call to at least being internet enabled and having a camera. Gone are the days when we used landlines with the next big thing being satellite phones that were probably larger than your face. As far as cameras on phones are concerned, the glow up has been magnificent to say the least.
History of Camera Phones
Get into your time machines and travel back in time with me to way back in 2000, June 2000, to be specific. The first ever camera enabled phone was manufactured. This new eighth wonder of the world boasted a camera clocking in at a mere 0.35MP, which was the first of its kind back then. It could take up to 20 pictures with its only flaw being you had to hook it up to a computer to view your pictures. Essentially, the phone and the camera were different entities or devices housed in the same body.
Fast-forward to today, mobile phone cameras have evolved to average in at around 12-16 MP. Technology has gone an extra step, as it so ever does, and enabled mobile phone cameras to be 3D.
3D Scanning Enabled Mobile Phones
So, what is 3D scanning really?
3D scanning is a lot of things, which all in a way or another involve analyzing an object or space from the real world with the intention of recreating its shape or appearance digitally.
By definition, 3D scanning is technology for creating precision 3D models of real-world objects. 3D scanners of course do the 3D scanning, with a classic example being the 3D smartphone.
How it Works
The blueprint of 3D scanning is a 3D scanner takes multiple snapshots of an object from different angles. The shots are then fused into a 3D model which is an exact 3D copy of the object.
The idea of 3D basically means the object or space exists in all three scopes; height, width and depth-if you like math, on all three axes; x, y and z. The model you now have rendered on your computer can be rotated so you can view it from different angles as you please. This model is referred to as a 3D scan.
A 3D scan is technically defined as a 3D image of part of an object’s surface. Sets of 3D scans form a 3D model.
If you have been in a computer graphics class, you may have heard of the concept of pixels in 2D images or images for that matter. Pixels are the building blocks of images. In 3D scans, the building blocks are tiny polygons that form a polygonal mesh that replicates the object’s geometry and with much detail.
3D Scanners
As I had mentioned, 3D scanners do the actual scanning. You could use just about anything with a depth scanner to do the 3D scanning. Choice of scanners is mostly influenced by the scale of operation, large scale or small scale with that regard.
For small scale, you will likely opt for something small like a handheld laser scanner while for large scale, go for professional grade 3D scanners. 3D scanners work somehow like a camera does barring the fact that a camera makes 2D stills. A 3D scanner on the other hand captures an object’s entire geometry, including depth, and the result is converted into a 3D scan. On the other hand, the result from a camera is turned into a video.
Turning Your Mobile Phone Into a 3D Scanner
Say you want to render a 3D scan of your car or something and you are not lucky enough to own a 3D smartphone.
There is a way you can turn your regular smartphone into one and it will work just as well as a handheld laser scanner or any other 3D scanner in your choices. What you need to do is get or download a 3D scanner for mobile phone. Don’t let the name scare you-they are simply applications or software that help you make 3D scans. They all vary in how you use them but what they all have in common is the underlying architecture of how they work;
How 3D Scanning Applications Work
They all work based on one simple action by the user; it takes pictures of the object as you walk around the object to get images from every angle. That is how you can make your phone do 3D scans using a 3D scanner for mobile phone.
